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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  8. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. squash — the sport
  3. bat — the animal
  4. wound — an injury
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. tear — to rip
  7. ruler — a monarch
  8. ruler — for measuring
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. ruler — for measuring
  11. face — part of the head
  12. pound — a weight
  13. wound — an injury
  14. cold — not warm
  15. face — to point toward
  16. tear — from crying
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. tear — from crying
  19. squash — to crush
  20. face — to confront
  21. cold — an illness
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bat — in an idiom

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com